Pleat forming device



May 13, 1958 A. M. OGLE 2,834,522

PLEAT FORMING DEVICE Filed Dec. l, 1954 United States APatent O2,834,522 PLEAT FORMING DEVICE Annette Marie Ogle, Fort Dodge, IowaApplication December 1, 1954, Seriali No. 472,361

4 Claims. (Cl. 223-34) This invention relates to clothes forming toolsand more particularly to a tool for facilitating the manual forming ofpleats in cloth and like foldable sheet material;

Many articles of wearing apparel such as skirts, dresses, shirts,blouses and like have pleats both for decoration and utility. Some suchpleats are of the loose variety and must be reformed each time thegarment is washed or dry cleaned. Obviously, much time and labor isrequired to form a plurality of pleats, also the task is most difficultand the usual method is to measure and mark each pleat. This is ofcourse subject to error and the result is that most such pleating is notaccurate, is distorted and the pleats are uneven and unsightly.

Therefore, one of the principal objects of my invention is to provide asimple pleating aid that any one can easily use.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pleat forming toolthat creates pleats rapidly and accurately.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a pleat formingdevice that will selectively make pleats of different widths.

Still further objects of my invention are to provide a manually operatedpleat forming tool that is economical in manufacture, and durable inuse.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangements, andcombination, of the various parts of the device, whereby the objectscontemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth,specifically pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my device ready for use,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of my pleater being used on a fabric sheet andforming pleats therein,

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the device taken on line 3 3 of Fig.2 and illustrates how one side of the device is flipped over to form apleat, and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of my pleat former taken on line 44 ofFig. 2 and more fully illustrates its construction.

ln general my device comprises two hinged together leaf portions and 11.These two flat portions may be of any suitable material such as plastic,metal, wood, or even cardboard. I, however, recommend sheet plastic andpreferably clear plastic for observation purposes. The two leaf portions10 and 11 may be hinged together in any suitable manner. In the drawingsI show the two leaf portions cast with registering hinge bearings toform a short length of a piano type hinge 12 with the usual hinge pin13. This hinge 12 is of relatively short length and there is a space orslit 14 between the two leaf portions at each end of the hinge, as shownin Fig. 1.

My device, as shown, will make four different widths of pleats, however,it may be constructed to make more or even less than four sizes. Thenumber of sizes of pleats are determined by the number of step widths ofthe two 2,834,522 Patented May 13, 1958 leaf portions, `The widest areaof the two leaf portions is designated by the numeral 15. It will benoted that these two areas 15 extend laterally (when the device isexpanded) equal distance, and their outer straight side edges are inplanes parallel with the axis of the hinge 12. The lengths of theseportions 15- are much greater than that of the length of the hingesection 12 which secures these two portions 15 in hinged relationship.The next size area portions of the two halves 10, andl 11, aredesignated by the numerals 16, respectively. These two side portions 16are integrally connected to the portions` 15, respectively, and aresimilar to the same, except they are of less width. Connected integrallyto the other end of each of the portions 16 are portions of still lesswidth, designated by the numerals 17, respectively, as shown in Fig. 2.On the -other end of the portions 15 are lstill narrower portionsdesignated by the numeral 18. These different width areas are made bystepping down the width of the two leaf portions 10 and 11. As anillustration the portions 18 may be of one-fourth inch width; theportions 15, one and one-half inch width; the portions 16, one inchwidth; Vand the portions 17, one half-inch width. These widths willdetermine the width of the pleat to be formed.

The practical operation of the device is as follows:

The sheet material 20 is placed on a llat surface 21. If, say it isdesired to form one-half inch pleats, the device is placed to straddlethe cloth, i. e., it extends through the slot 14 between the areas 17 asshown in Fig. 2. The area 17 adjacent the last pleat formed, or the edgeof the garment for the first pleat to be formed is on top of the clothor like 20, and the other area 17 of the other leaf is under the cloth.By merely flipping or folding the leaf 11 over and to the left as shownby dotted lines in Fig. 4, a pleat 25 will be formed, automatically,quickly and easily. The width of the pleat will be the same as the widthof the portions 17. By all the areas of the two leaf portions beingrectangular, the pleats will not only be uniform but accurate as tolength direction and parallel arrangements. The same procedure is usedfor each pleat. The outer straight edge of the leaf portion on top ofthe cloth will be placed adjacent the last formed pleat. If one andonehalf inch pleats are desired, the unit of course is slipped on thecloth to bring the portions 15 into play. Thus, the width of pleats willbe determined by the position in the slot 14 of the cloth. The formingof a given pleat is caused by the leaf portion being turned over,catching the free side of the cloth, causing the cloth to embrace bothof its sides, and then depositing the fold over the fixed side area ofthe cloth to form the pleat. The user may work from either end of thetool and from any direction of the cloth.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement` of mypleat forming device without departing from the real spirit and purposeof my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, anymodified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which maybe reasonably included within their scope.

l claim: j

1. In a pleat forming device, two sheet members sp-aced apart at theirinner adjacent sides to provide a slit opening between them for at leasta major portion of their lengths, a hinge means hingedly connecting saidtwo sheet members together at a point away from the ends of their inneradjacent edges whereby one sheet member may be laterally folded over theother without moving the other; said two sheet members having straightouter side edges and widths of dierent values.

2. In a pleat forming device, two symmetrically shaped sheet membersspaced 4apart at their inner adjacent sides to provide a slit openingbetween them for at least a major portion of their lengths, a hingemeans hingedly connecting said two sheet members together at a pointaway from the ends of their inner adjacent edges whereby one sheetmember may be laterally folded over the other without moving the other;said two sheet members having straight outer side edges and widths ofdierent values.

3. In a pleat forming device, two sheet members spaced apart at theirinner adjacent sides to provide a slit opening between them for at leasta major portion of their lengths, a hinge means hingedly connecting saidtwo sheet members together at a point away from the ends of their inneradjacent edges whereby one sheet member may be laterally folded over theother without moving the other; said two sheet members having straightouter side edges and widths of different values on both of theirseparate ends.

4. In a pleat forming device, two symmetrically shaped sheet membersspaced apart at their inner adjacent sides References Cited in the le ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 189,866 Long Apr. 24, 1877 290,129Smith Dec. 11, 1883 315,842 Schilling Apr. 14, 1885 457,721 Hoefer Aug.11, 1891 1,632,415 Parsons June 14, 1927

